Well, most folks have a dry job, but mine is wet. Making, serving, and enjoying fine libations is a hard and trying occupation. If you are one of those dry types, it just isn’t your calling. Me, I like it wet. I lived near a dry county once. I shudder to think about it. Yup, I like it wet. But in some things moderation is key. Until recently I wondered what those things were. Now I know. Sometimes it can be too wet. I guess it’s time to finally break out the umbrellas.
It’s been a dreary week here in Winterport, Maine. Actually a dreary summer is more like it. The weather has been the same as far back as mid-June. Hazy, rainy, humid, hot, wet, yuch. I’m normally like a duck and love wet weather, but some times it gets to be Just Too Much.
One day last week the weather broke and it was a Beautiful Maine Summer Day. Yes, it has to be capitalized. Warm with Cool Breezes, Sunny, Occasional Puffy Clouds Decorating the Skies, the Smell of Green Growing Things All Around and the Scent of the Ocean on the Wind. Not too hot, not too cool, as Goldilocks said, “This is just right.” Well, that lasted all of one day.
Then the temperature dropped that night and the cool weather version of the dreary weather started. Hazy, rainy, humid, cool, wet., bleh. It’s better to be on the cool side than the warm side for me. You can only take off so much clothes, but can always put more on. The thing is, I Want Summer! Last summer was so amazing, a perfect day every day, and once every few days a quick, summer afternoon thundershower to liven up the day. But this year the word is rain.
This morning a chance of rain, followed by steady rain mid-day, with mist and rain in the afternoon. Expect thunderstorms in the evening, with a brief five minute period with a 30% chance of rain, before a deluge overnight. Please get your ark ready, we’re going to float away.
Float away… I thought that might happen the morning we came in and the winery, which is located a dozen feet below ground level under our building, was starting to flood. Thankfully that was one of the days when we had the 30% chance of rain during the day, and the clouds just sat and sputtered at us, not a long, hysterical yelling session where they threw buckets of water and crashed around. Finally the mild flooding drained away, but first I had to hear horror stories from Mike and Jody about the rare times when they have come in and the stream that gurgles along behind the building has crept up a dozen feet, poured into the basement loading door, and the winery has feet of water in it that have to be pumped out. Rare? If it happens more than once it isn’t rare, it’s occasional, or even frequent. The Maine, and New England, habit of understatement can be taken too far… occasionally.
At least business is fairly good. Tourists and locals alike want to do indoor things during the showers, like taste wine, and then run like mad to get back outside for the rare, semi-dry times. So we get clusters of visitors running in the doors, off and on all day. About half are our local fans, stopping by to pick up a few bottles for dinner during the week, or for company coming by. The others are tourists from all over the country, some with agendas that please my heart. These are the ones who want to visit ALL the wineries, breweries, and distilleries in the area; with stops for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at all the best places in between. I hear snatches of conversation like, “I’ll be designated driver tomorrow when we visit the breweries, if you do it today so I can taste wine.” “Ummm, OK, but we have to buy several bottles of wine so I can taste them with diner tonight.”
So I am pitching in with wine tastings, and anything else that seems to need doing. I really enjoy the wine tastings and helping folks out. There are many categories of folks who walk into our winery. Many people are very familiar with our wines and just need to be pointed in the right direction to find what they need. Others haven’t been here in awhile. So I drag, umm I mean coerce, aaaah nooo, that’s invite them over to the tasting bar to try some of our new offerings. Yeah! That’s It. Some are wine experts. These I just guide along a wee bit. Others are new to wines, or new to fruit wines, of these some just want to try wines and be advised on what will pair well with a specific meal they have planned. But the last category is my favorite. These are people who are relatively new to wines, or our products, and want to know Everything About Them.
This is when I get to really have fun. I’ll ask, “So do you like dry or semi-dry wines? Or maybe sweet dessert wines?” They’ll answer, “Umm I don’t know.” So then I start my spiel. I tell them all about wine and other libations. Dry, semi-dry. sweet, fortified, etc. Grape wines, which we don’t make. Fruit wines, which we do. Beer, spirits, hard cider, mixers, bitters, infusions, etc., which we are in the process of or soon will be making. I watch their expression and see if they are keeping up, or if I have to slow down or speed up. It’s all the same to me. I get to talk about food and beverages.
Now some folks just start to stare and their eyes glaze over when I get on a run. I can’t help it. I get excited talking about my loves. Others catch my excitement. I can talk food and beverages all day and night. Actually I do talk food and beverages all day and night. It’s my life. Oh, occasionally I get side tracked to talk about some of the other things I am fond of. Cooking, eating, finding down new foods and drinks; and other stuff like foraging for wild edible and medicinal plants and such. Oh, and every now and then reading, hiking, traveling, and some of the other things I like to do. But mostly it’s food and beverages.
This is a good thing, because we are still waiting on a few critical pieces of equipment before we can surge forth in finishing the brewery and distillery. If I didn’t have other things to keep me busy, I’d go completely bonkers. I like to work hard and make things happen. I like to get things done. I’m one of those driven folks who work hard, then work hard at not working. I like my rest time as much as my busy time, and put as much effort into both. But I like to keep them separate. I don’t like to be working when I am relaxing, and I don’t like to be relaxing when I am working.
To help keep up my spirits; since I am not making spirits, I bought a new toy. I need something to keep me occupied during the slow times at work. I keep forgetting to bring my in-line skates out of storage so I can whizzz around our parking lot. The lot is too small for my bicycle, plus I only live 150 yards away, so carrying my bike downstairs just to ride for ten seconds, all downhill to the winery, is a bit much. When I take my bike out it’s for a nice long ride up and down the rolling hills and country roads. So I bought a new toy. A unicycle!
You know, I had a unicycle as a teenager. I seem to remember that I was pretty good at it. Sure, that was a while ago. Well, not thaaaat long ago, and I hope it’s like a bicycle, you never forget how to ride. Right?
I can imagine myself uni-cycling to work, then puttering around the brewery and distillery on it. Riding from brew kettle, to fermenters, to the still; balancing bravely all the while. Maybe I’ll even practice my juggling. I used to be pretty good at that as well. I can just see me now, riding around and juggling bottles of wine.
Just in case, I’ll make sure I practice with my helmet on. Just-in-case. Maybe even my knee pads, elbow pads, and wrist protectors. I usually only wear the whole set when I am trying stunts on my in-line skates or skateboard.
If you don’t hear from me next week, let’s hope that it’s just because I decided to take a short vacation. Have a fun weekend folks, and stay dry outside… and if you’re in the mood, a little wet inside.
